Trump says Iran's latest proposal reneges on giving up enriched material: 'Are they stupid people?'
President Donald Trump called out the "piece of garbage" peace proposal from Iran on Monday from the Oval Office, saying only "stupid people" in Iran are questioning his resolve in guaranteeing Iran will never have a nuclear weapon.
The latest Iranian proposal reneged on a past vow to give up enriched uranium, according to Trump.
"They come back, and they want to negotiate, and they give us a stupid — it's a stupid proposal and nobody would take it," Trump said. "Although Obama would have taken it, Biden would have taken it."
Trump said Iranian officials had previously agreed to allow the removal of enriched nuclear material from a site he described as "obliterated" by U.S. strikes, but then omitted that commitment from the written proposal sent to Washington.
"They said you're going to have to take it: We were going to go with them," Trump said. "But they changed their mind because they didn't put it in the paper.
"When they sent us this document that we waited four days for, that should have taken 10 minutes to do: Look, very simple, we get that, they guarantee no nuclear weapons for a very long period of time and a couple of other minor things, but they just can't get there," he continued. "So they agree with us, and then they take it back."
Trump said the U.S. would not accept any arrangement that leaves Iran with a path to a nuclear weapon.
"The plan is very simple. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won't have a nuclear weapon," Trump said. "And they didn't want to go that far."
"If you can believe it, how stupid. Are they stupid people?" Trump asked. "They didn't want to believe it. They think that, well, I'll get tired of this, or I'll get bored, or I'll have some pressure. But there's no pressure. There's no pressure at all."
The ceasefire with Iran was in serious jeopardy after the latest offer, Trump warned.
"It's unbelievably weak," Trump said. "After reading that piece of garbage they sent us. I didn't even finish reading it.
"I'm not going to waste my time reading it."
"I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says, ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living,’" he added.
"It was just unacceptable," Trump said when asked about the weekend proposal. "I have the best plan ever. And Iran has been defeated militarily. Totally."
Trump said his position remains unchanged: "Iran can not have a nuclear weapon. They're very dangerous. They're very volatile."
Some Iranian officials want a deal, but hard-liners are blocking an agreement, according to Trump.
"In Iran, they have the moderates – they're dying to make a deal – and then you have the lunatics," Trump said. "And I guess they're a little bit afraid of the lunatics."